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' .ELEVATOR- I No. 480,659. Patented Aug. 9, 1892.

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Patented Aug. 9, 1892.

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WILLIAM D. EWART, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND JAMES M. DODGE, OFPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE LINK-BELT EN- GINEERINGCOMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

vELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,659, dated August9, 1892. Application filed November 24, 1890. Serial No. 372,419. (Nomodel.)

Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inElevators, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to what are knownras dock-legelevators. These :o as generallyconstructed, have been long,

heavy, and cumbersome, requiring expensive framework for the leg and itssupports and more or less complicated driving4 arrange- 'nents It hasbeen necessary to extend such' x 5 elevators to a considerable height inorder to let them down into the holds of vessels about vertically and atthe same time give the discharge-spout which reaches from head ofelevator to bins o r other places of deposit on the 2o dock) asuiiicient length and steepness to deliver the material readily at thevarying stages of Water, especially where it isA necessary to providefor a large rise and fall, owing to tide or other causes. The requireddegree of steepness for free delivery through the dischargespout varieswithl the kinds of material handled, and with some materials-such ascoalthere is more or less trouble from too abrupt a fall and consequentbreakage when elevator 3o is at or near its'highest position if thespout is made steep enough for the 'material to fiow through it readilywhen elevator is at its lowest position. Furthermore, the ordinary formof elevator requires a comparatively high belt speed to obtain asatisfactory discharge over the head-wheels, and the consequent violencein picking up and discharging the load causes additional trouble frombreakage.

The primary object of our invention is to 4o overcome theabove-mentioned difficulties and furnish an elevator which will operatesatisfactorily under conditions of a greatlyincreased" range of verticaland horizontal movementof the foot of the elevator to suit varyingheights of water, depths ot holds in vessels, relative location ofhatches, &c., a secondary object being to render the entire outfit easyof manipulation.

Our invention consists, mainly, in adapting 5o to the .uses of acombined elevator and conveyera'carrier employing two parallel strandsof chain or vcable with buckets rigidly secured between them, all beingarranged as more fully described hereinafter, and as morespecifically-defined in the claims of this specification. Y

To enable those skilled in the art to which our improvements relate tounderstand and practice the same, we will now proceed to describe ourinvention more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, which formpart of thisv specification, and in which similar' letters and numbersrefer t0 similar' parts throughout the several views.v

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a dock-leg elevator constructed inaccordance with our invention. F ig. 2 is an enlarged View of a portionof the outerend of the boom, shown partially in cross-section,illustrating particularly the curved end of the conveyer-trough bottomof the boom. Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the drivingmachinery, power appliances, shifting-levers, cables, die., by which theoutfit is operated. Fig. 4 is a diagram side View of an ordinarydoek-leg elevator, drawn on a small scale, illustrating differentpositions, as more fully explained hereinafter; and'Fig isasimilar viewof an elevator made in accordance with our invention, illustratingespecially the greater range of movement permitted by its construction.

A is a framework shown as securely held in an upright position by guys,as at a, and serving as a tower or mast by which the boom B issupported. The latter is a framework pivoted at C iu bearings preferablyconcentric with the head-shaft of the carrier-,and its outer end israised and lowered by a chain or cable D,which passes over the top ofmast A down to winding-drum E. From 4the outer end of the boom issuspended an elevator-leg -F,which is pivoted at G. BoomB and eleva- Aingreater or less engagement with the buck' ets, depending on the angle atwhich the boom is standing.

K are the head-wheels, K2 the foot-wheels, and K3., K4, and Kare idlerwheels, over which the chains run at the junction of the elevating andconveying sections of the carrier. The slack in the carrier-chains isprovided for by take-up bearings J, which lcarry the idler-shaft onwhich wheels K are located-.1 At its inner end the conveyer-troughbottom L of' the boom B connects with a dischargechute L3, preferablythrough the medium of a hinged spout end L and at the outer end itextends between the wheels K2, and is curved partially around the shaftatL2 in. such a lmanner as to form for the conveyertrough (at whateveroperative angle it mayt stand) a sort of receiving-spout to take care ofsuch material as may drop from the buckets in turning, and feed it intothe trough as the buckets move forward. The direction of motion of thechains and buckets is .indicated by arrows above and belowthe boom, andshown by the positions of the buckets.

N is a barge or vessel from which the elevator is receiving its load, Obeing the hatch through which the elevator is let down i-nto the hold.

R', R2, and R3 in Fig. -4 are diiferent positions of an ordinarydock-leg, and S, S2, and z S3 in Fig. 5 are different positions of ourdockleg corrcspondingsomewhat with the preced-1 ing, but withdifferences to be more fully ex?, plained hereinafter. Dotted lines P',P2, and P3 show the levels of the foot of ordinary el-e. vator inpositions R', R2, and R2, respectively, and Q', Q2, and Q3 show levelsof the foot of our elevator in positions S S2, nd S3, respect` ively.

5 is the driving-wheel on the head-shaft of the carrier.

6 is the driving-belt connecting wheel 5 with outside driving-wheel 7,which latter isf. fitted with a clutch operated by bent lever 8, thislever in turn being moved in one direction by rope or cable 9 to throwthe clutch into engagement and in the other direction' by rope 10 tothrow out of engagement. Vheel 7 is on shaft 11,which drives shaft 12 byspur-.gearing arranged to increase the speed. On shaft 12 we locate twobevel-gears 13 and 14, provided with clutches operated by levers 15 and16, respectively, so connecting the levers that one clutch cannot bethrown into engagement until after the other isf thrown out. Ropes orcables 17 and 18 con-'4 trol the movements of levers 15 and 16.Bevelgears 13 and 14 engage suitably with bevelgear 19, forming areversible drive for shaft 20, the latter carrying worm 21, whichengages witliworm-gear 22, driving the shaft on which v drum E islocated. v

From the above description it will be seen that when the operator 011the vessel wishest to raise the elevator he pulls on rope 18,2 which,working through lever 16, bevel-gears l, 14 and 19, shaft 20, andworm-gearing 21 andf 22, starts drumEto revolving in such a direction asto wind up cable D and raise the end 1 of the boom. To lower theelevator, he pulls on rope 17, which through intermediatemechanismcorresponding to the above-described agencies revolves drum E in theopposite direction, paying out cable D and lowering the end of the boom.We arrangeto have an inter-mediate position for levers 15 and 16 wherethe clutches on gears 13 and 14 are both out of engagement, so that nomotion will be transmitted tothe worm-shaft and drum when the elevatoris at any desired stationary position. We also sometimes arrange tocounterweight the boom and leg so as to render the above-describedmovements easier of Aeftectuation and permit a certain degree of handadjustment of the elevator-leg in the hold of the vessel. To start theoperation of the elevator chains and buckets, rope 9 is pulled, throwingthe clutch on wheel 7 into lengagement through the medium of lever 8,thus connecting the main driving-shaft with the head shaft of thecarrier through wheels 7 and 5 and belt 6. Pulling on rope 10 will stopthe carrier by throwing' the clutch out of engagement. The ropes orcables run out along the boom and down the elevator-leg within easyreach of the operator on the vessel.

It is evident that any style of clutches, friction-gearing, and plain orreversible driving mechanisms can be used in the above-described workwithout departing from the spirit of our invention, and we have merelyshown the above as a simple and effective arrangement, which we havethus far successfully adopted.

' In dock-leg elevators as usually constructed the framework of thedischarge-spout serves as 1a boom, and the highest position which can bereached is shown by R in Fig. 4. The position R2 represents the highestpoint at which the elevator is operative in handling such material ascoal without such an abrupt lfall as to cause excessive breakage, andthe position Ris the lowest at which the coal will .'iow down the spoutfreely. The arc of the circle through which the boom moves in passingfrom R .to R2 and the corresponding change of' level of the foot of theelevator from P to P2 is generally utilized forgetting the elevator overthe .side of the vessel into the hatch, and the remaining are of thecircle and change of level in passing from R2 to R2 and P2 toP3 isrequired for the variations in depths of holds, height of water, &c.With our form of elevator the angle of the boom in S2 may correspond tothat in R3, leaving all the change of level from Q to Q2 for adjustmentof elevator over the side ot' the vessel, if desired, While the elevatorby reason of our improvements is rendered operative at any positionbetween S2 and S3, giving a change of level from Q2to Q3 and more thandoubling 4the range of adj ustability for either purpose, at the sametime not being limited to the position S2' as the highest operativeposition or as the-lowest adjustment for getting over the IOC:

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side of the vessel. The range of movement of the foot of the .elevatortoward andaway from the dock, asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, is afurthergvadvantage, saving much of the labor of trimming in the hold ofthe vessel, required vin the use of the ordinary forms,which arenecessarily so long as to make this adjustment inconvenient orimpossible. The lightness of the outfit and ease of-manipulation madepossible by our improvements render the above-described large ranges ofmovement practical and very useful.

The comparatively high belt speed required in ordinary dock-legelevators to obtain a discharge by centrifugal force is Whollyunnecessary in our device, and we are enabled to run our elevator-beltsat as slow a speed as may be found desirable, and thus prevent allviolence in picking up and discharging the material.

As mentioned above, more or less trouble arises in the ordinary formsof4 dock-leg elevators from too steep a descent from the head of theelevator for the safe ldelivery of coal and analogous materials whenelevator is at its highest point; but in our improved form theconnection between head of elevator proper and the dock is the boomalong which* the carrier drags the load, so that a great height forobtaining a discharge is unnecessary, and even if the rise and fall ofwater should at times be excessive, requiring an unusual elevation ofthe outer end of the boom,

the buckets would serve to retard the fall of the material enough toprevent injury to it.

If it is desired, the towerA can be arranged on wheels and tracks andmade adjustable along the entire front of the dock, and this can be themore readily done because of the comparatively short and light frameworkof our device, which admits of the employment of lightersupports on thedock than would be required for the ordinary doek-leg elevators. Ifpreferred, our device can of course `be attached directly to a Warehouseor other permanent structure on the dock, or it can be used in otherlocations-as, for instance, in the work of unloading cars instead ofvessels-or Various other modifications could be adopted to snit thecircumstances without departing from the spirit of our invention.

In practical operation our carrier serves first as an elevator inlifting material from the hold of the vessel, and next as a conveyer,each bucket pushing its charge along the trough-bottom formed in theboom. The

material is delivered at the inner end into the chutes or spouts L andL3 by a gradual descent and a natural and easy owing or sliding motion,thus being handled but once in the passage from vessel to dock, and by amethod which invol ves no abrupt fall to cause ',breakage, the materialnever being thrown from the buckets.

In order to mak a permanent, substantial, and simple boot .or theelevator-leg and confine the movements of the buckets at that point to.t constant circular path, we use stationary journal-bearings for thefoot-shaft instead of the adjustable bearings or takeups usuallyemployed there, and apply the take-ups to the upper idler-shaft, asshown at J, where the adjustment will-not interfere with the carryingside of the elevator and will the more readily take care of the slackthrown into the chains as they pass olf of the head-wheels.

Some of the advantages of our improvements might be obtained byarranging to have the elevator and conveyer formed separately, theformer delivering directly into the latter, or a continuous carriercould be constructed on substantially the same plan as shown above, withthe exception of areversal ofthe motion' of the belting and theutilization of theupper run of the conveyer-section instead of thelower; but either of these plans would involve a more or less forcibledischarge of the material, and for this reason we have preferred toconstruct the device in the manner which we have shown in the drawings,and which we have described hereinbefore.

That we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the following instru mentalities arranged andoperating together in substantially the manner hereinbefore described,viz: a framework serving as aboom, provided with a conveyer-troughbottom, an elevator-leg pivotally suspended from said boom, and acontinuous double-strand bucketcarrier running over suitable wheelsmounted in the framework of said boom and elevatorleg, the buckets ofwhich carrier lift the material bodily in the elevator-leg and then pushor scrape it along the trough-bottom of the boom to a suitable place ofdischarge.

WILLlAM D. EWART.

JAMES 1VM. DODGE.

Witnesses:

H. T. AUSTIN, E. W. FARRUN.

IOC

